The Hand and the Glove... ramblings about making.

'The Language of Process: how new materials and technologies are changing product design' is the current exhibition in the Special Collections section of the All Saints Library of Manchester Metropolitan University. The exhibition ends on December 20th.

I was asked to speak at the opening -

I am a maker; I could call myself
a designer, a craftsman or an artist, but I prefer the term Maker, as in
Creator; someone who straddles the grey area between those disciplines.

So that’s the perspective from which I view the
‘Language of Process’ exhibition.

To those of you who have been
along to the exhibition, it may appear to be a strange selection of odd items.
Some objects on display are practical and functional, others whimsical. Many
are aesthetically pleasing, yet one or two might be described as ugly. So why
have they been brought together?

I feel strongly that this
exhibition provides extremely timely evidence of the emergence of a new
language of making, where the traditional barriers between craft and design are
dissolving.

A lot of the objects on show have
been created using new and emerging digital technology. Employing these new
machines is not a case of simply pressing the button, as many people seem to
think. They are expensive and sophisticated, but they are just tools, with all
the same idiosyncrasies as traditional tools. And that is part of the
attraction for me and the new generation of makers who are leading the way by
making these machines do what we want them to.

As all makers know, we have to
explore materials and processes in order to develop the skills and
sensibilities necessary to turn an idea into a resolved 3-dimensional object. And we don’t stop exploring; the journey never ends. As a potter I
was never totally satisfied with what came out of the kiln; we search for a
perfection that we will never achieve. That’s what gets us up in the morning.
And it’s this striving, this insatiable curiosity that attracts us to explore
new ways of making.

But why is this important? For
me, craft and design aren’t just about the creation of beautiful bespoke
objects, The most inclusive definition of these activities and one that I
subscribe to is ‘the application of creative thinking and tacit knowledge to
solve a problem’. Which means that we engage with them from morning ‘til night;
we rely on those skills from birth to death, the midwife and the gravedigger
employ them; they are fundamental to our very existence and we all have the
potential to exercise them. One example of this is my dentist. He was telling
me of the part that craft knowledge plays in his work. He regards it as a
fundamental and central part of his skill, something that was kindled not at
Dental School but as a teenager in the Art Department.

So, it’s fundamental that
students at all stages are allowed to get to grips with materials and processes
and not just sit in front of the computer screen.

Take another, closer look at this
exhibition. You’ll see designers really getting down and dirty with messy
materials, and craftspeople hacking technology. The rulebook is being thrown
away and it points to a healthy future of innovation and creative thinking.

Manchester School of Art is very
fortunate in having traditional workshops and increasing digital making and
research facilities. They go hand in hand, the new tools do not replace the
old. And they are both vital if our students are going to play their
part in the UK’s economic revival. The doors of the workshops must be open to
all and I would hang a big sign in each of them, simply saying ‘What if…’

MMU could be an important cradle
of the next Industrial Revolution as long as the teaching and provision of
resources not only embrace the present cutting edge, as seen in this
exhibition, but also helps to shape the future direction of craft and design.

I don’t see this activity
centered solely on the Art School. The projects that I’m involved in MIRIAD are
in conjunction with material scientists, Learning Innovation and Engineering,
including a project to formulate 3D printable Graphene.There’s a lot of common ground to be shared between the
disciplines, but we can also challenge and stretch each other and that’s where
the advances happen.

I hope I’m preaching to the
converted, so if you have any influence on decision makers at any level please
bring them along to the ‘Language of Process’. Show them the beauty, the skill,
the innovation and the creative thinking. This must be one of the most tangible ways to
demonstrate that Innovative Making has an exciting and rightful future in the
cultural heart of this University.